News

Improving Forward Locations in Europe

—Marc V. Schanz7/9/2015

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​This map shows the approximate locations of US Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa military construction and operations and maintenance projects connected with the European Reassurance Initiative. USAFE-AFAFRICA photo.

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The European Reassurance Initiative has helped
fund 46 operations and maintenance projects and 23 military construction
projects across Europe in Fiscal 2015-2016, said Brig.
Gen. Bradley Spacy, USAFE-AFAFRICA director of logistics, installations, and
mission support. Many of these projects had been identified for several years,
via talks with NATO allies, Spacy told Air Force Magazine during a recent visit
to Germany, but ERI funds have accelerated the timeline “a number of years” on
many of them. Some projects are near USAF operating bases in the United Kingdom
and in Italy, but many more are at sites in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland,
Romania, and Bulgaria. These countries feature several locations where
USAFE-AFAFRICA forces frequently deploy, Spacy noted, but do not have the
infrastructure of a main operating base. In the Baltics, for example, many of
the ERI projects are designed to improve airfield conditions for all-weather
operations, by constructing or improving hangars and runways, and installing
better barrier systems for aircraft, as well as building indoor storage space
for equipment that would otherwise remain outdoors during the harsh winters.
“Fuel is very difficult to move, the more we can store forward the better,” he
added, noting in many locations permanent fuel storage facilities for allies also
are a top priority.